Why Lung Health is Crucial to a Long Life

We certainly spend a lot of time talking about brain health, and that’s not surprising in that I’m a neurologist. But we also talk a lot about the gut, heart health, metabolism, thyroid issues, immune function, and various other topics while we, like so many others, seem to sidestep the lungs and pulmonary health.

And yet, every aspect of our moment-to-moment functionality derives from our breath. There is so much going on in the lungs that we need to unpack, from their pivotal role in immune function, to how they affect gene expression, to the incredible fact that the lung itself harbors its own microbiome!

I’ve just finished reading a remarkable book entitled Breath Taking by Dr. Michael J. Stephen who is our guest today. He is an associate professor at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Center. He is a leader of numerous clinical trials and has been on the front lines caring for COVID-19 patients. He unfortunately contracted COVID-19 himself, and we’re going to hear all about that today. 

Over the past two decades, he has studied advanced end-stage lung diseases and worked with patients at diverse locales, including a Massachusetts prison hospital and a pediatric HIV clinic in Cape Town, South Africa. He is a graduate of Brown University and Boston University Medical School.

So take a deep breath and enjoy the program!